St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-20

with sores-all kinds of sores-some
that are swelled, and red, and dry, some
that are hollow eXuding matter, nose
half eaten away, and eyes that are hid
by big black goggles, while his hair and
whiSkerS have an unkempt matted look
very forlOrn and miserable to see. His
voice is so low and husky that but few
words he speaks can be understood,
and when he sat down and laid his
hands on his knees, it could be
seen they too were the seat of
mass of sores and putrifaction
revolving to look upon. There was
something very pathetic in the scene :;
the leper looking the most detected and
SOrrOwful of mOrtalS "a few feet from him
the little maiden with the sad face, that
seemed to say, Il have never laughed
like other children" the little brother
clinging to her and hiding behind her
skirt, abaShed because a stranger was
sitting there. and without the dreary
view of pOverty-Stricken houses, the
flowing river; and across the bank the
great cOld-lOOking bluff, covered with
bramble, and the great stones and dirt
and rags cast here and there.
WHENCE HE CAME.
Among the isolated districts of Europe
where leprOSy still exists, and has since
the middle ages, is stretch of country
on the west coast of Norway, including
three large cities. Bergen, Mode and
TrOudhjem, where hospitals to treat
the disease flourish. From this last
city came the leper of Minneapolis. He
contracted the disease there, had it
very badly when he landed in
New York, and the only mystery seems
to be that he was ever permitted to do
so. However that may be, he landed,
and came directly here six years ago,
and has been here ever since. The city
authorities keep their eye on him con-
stantly, and he is allowed trifle from
the public eXchequer every week. His
wife is Woodworking woman, and in
this way they manage to exc out pre-
carious living. How greatly he is sep
arated from his fellow mOrtalS, even his
own kith and kin, will be better under
stood by something the little girl said in
her artless, melancholy way. Asked if
she helped her father when he needed
anything, she at once replied: sob,
give him any thing, yes, but, my poor
papa, him l have never touched so long
as l remember" When she said this,
the leper became greatly agitated, he
bowed his head and wept-then rising,
advanced to the reporter with his poor
SOre-Stricken hands held out, crying:
Look! LOOkl LOokI' and pointing to
the picture of the fine young man al
ready mentioned above the bed, cried
once again: Look for that was | ~
Nothing on or off the stage could be
more dramatic than this. 1t
APPEALED TO THE HIGHEST EMOTIONS
that man is capable of feeling. This
unfortunate creature, standing there,
marked and cursed with the leper'S
stain, feeling himself by-wOrd and a
scott, and grasping at the one proof
left. he was not always thus, uncOn-
sciously seeking sympathy in a mute
way, crying: Look upon me, for l,
too, was fair and spOtlesS like other
men-Once." And then the melancholy
echo of that poor child sobbing forth:
80, sir, as long as l remember my poor
papa, him never touchedrn The leper
paced the room for a few minutes
trembling with agitation, and then
hurried out without saying another
word.
The age of miracles is past, but when
the open air was reached, and as the
evening shadows fell it was not hard to
recall n. p. Willis beautiful poem,
1.-The Leper," after seeing such spec
tacle as the one just left, nor to breath
prayer to Heaven that as Jesus dealt
with the outcaSt near Jerusalem, so the
Almighty would deal with this unfortu-
nate being cast into our midst.